Why worried? I am not affected !!!

This is what comes in our mind when we got saved and/or not harmed by any calamity or disaster that hit our neighbourhood. At one point, we think that this could have been me but very next moment, we let that thought go and think that thank God we’re not those who got affected. We always try to escape and seek any comfort zone in such catastrophic incidents… but my question is why we forget that this could have been me, my family, my kids, my parents, my relatives, my neighbours ???

The past 7 days have been one of the toughest the country has faced in recent memory and all of us have been affected either through association with the people who lost their lives in a tragic air crash or by just feeling the grief of the entire nation.

We all know that in the face of adversity, our entire Nation has historically risen to the challenge, be it the earthquake or the IDP crisis where every single Pakistani contributed funds, clothes, drinking water, food items and time.

My brothers and sisters, time has come again to rise up to the challenges. The issues faced this time are complex. There is a noose of grief around our neck. The water levels are preventing people from accessing areas therefore food and first aid is difficult to get across.

Lot of people have been coordinating with welfare agencies on how to overcome the issue , helicopters are US$ 3000 per hour and are not large enough to carry goods and each trip will take hours. Unfortunately events are moving so fast that NGO’s and disaster management outfits have currently no clue as to the extent of damage and how much it will cost to replace or repair it.

In this heart-trodden scenario, TOGETHER we can help alleviate the suffering of all that have been effected by this calamity. Alone neither you nor I can make a difference, together even if we save ONE life we save humanity.

I on behalf of my entire Pakistan Youth Renaissance (PYR) Team request all of you to please come forward to volunteer time, items or money towards the relief efforts on a collective basis.

PYR can assure you that our members will personally visit the places to ensure that your funds have been properly utilized.

The ones below speak for 2.5 million – that is the number of people who are trapped, displaced, affected by the worst floods, Pakistan has ever seen.

A bridge is washed away following flooding in the Swat region of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province on Monday. The United Nations and the United States announced $10 million in emergency aid for Pakistan on Sunday. (W. Khan / EPA)

People carry their belongings where heavy flooding destroyed homes in Nowshera, Pakistan on Monday. The disaster has killed up to 1,500 people and forced millions to flee their homes. (Mohammad Sajjad / AP)

Flood survivors walk over a makeshift suspension bridge built by the Pakistan army after floods washed away the iron bridge in Chakdara, near Mingora in the Swat valley on Monday. (Naveed Ali / AP)

People camp along railway tracks on Monday after their homes were destroyed by flooding in Nowshera. (Mohammad Sajjad / AP)

Pakistan army soldiers pass a baby as they help people flee from their flooded village in Taunsa near Multan on Sunday. The army deployed 30,000 troops but thousands remain trapped by floodwaters. (Khalid Tanveer / AP)

Residents scramble to recover water bottles dropped from a Pakistan Air Force helicopter on Monday, Aug. 2 in Nowshera, Pakistan. Rescue workers and troops in northwest Pakistan struggled to reach thousands of people affected by the country’s worst floods since 1929. (Daniel Berehulak / Getty Image

Ikramulla, 37, stands near a pen where he lost a handful of water buffalo to floods in Nowshera, on Aug. 1. (Adrees Latif / Reuters)

Men assist residents in crossing the Islamabad Peshawar tollway, parts of which were washed away by heavy floods, in Charsadda, Pakistan, on July 31. (Faisal Mahmood / Reuters)

Residents take shelter on high grounds from floods in Risalpur,in Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier Province on Friday, July 30. (Adrees Latif / Reuters)

A boy hangs on to the front of a cargo truck while passing through a flooded road in Risalpur on July 30. Three days of heavy rains caused rivers to overflow, pulling down bridges and flooding towns. (Adrees Latif / Reuters)

Pakistani residents stand by flood water that entered a residential area of Muzaffarabad on July 30. (Sajjad Qayyum / AFP – Getty Images)